Seven South Florida men were among 30 brokers, lawyers and investors charged on Wednesday in an alleged decade-long insider-trading scheme that was fueled by confidential information stolen from law firms and netted tens of millions of dollars in illicit stock profits, federal prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said the defendants used the confidential information on about 30 merger and acquisition deals from several of the nation’s premier law firms, including a firm headquartered in Massachusetts, between 2014 and 2024.
Authorities said they arrested 19 of the defendants on Wednesday and that two are on the lam in Russia and Israel, noting they are charged in two securities-fraud conspiracy indictments unsealed in federal court in Boston. They also said nine other defendants have been charged in the nationwide insider-trading investigation led by the FBI.
“Our country’s financial markets and professional firms should be free from the rampant fraud and breaches of duty that these charges allege,” United States Attorney Leah B. Foley said in a news release. “The trading on unannounced financial news alleged here not only violated the securities laws, but it also took advantage of the special access and ethical duties that come with a law license.”
Federal prosecutors said attorneys Nicolo Nourafchan, 43, of Los Angeles, and Robert Yadgarov, 45, of Long Beach, New York, “recruited other attorneys and insiders to serve as sources of inside information” on major acquisitions and “paid their sources kickbacks consisting of up to hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash.”
Authorities said the two lawyers provided information “to a network of traders and middlemen whom they also enlisted to join the scheme.” Investigators said the conspirators “transferred proceeds and kickback payments in cash and through intermediaries and shell companies, in locations like Panama and Switzerland” and disguised them as “loans” or business transactions.
The South Florida men indicted in the case played roles as investors or middlemen who received insider tips, according to court records. They are: Brian Fensterszaub, 45, an insurance adjuster, of Hollywood; Mark Fensterszaub, an insurance adjuster, 47, of Hollywood; Simon Fensterszaub, a doctor, 50, of Fort Lauderdale; Baruch Igal Hatanian, a salesman, 39, of Fort Lauderdale; Yisroel Horowitz, an insurance adjuster, 50, of Hollywood; Gavryel Silverstein, an insurance adjuster, 43, of Hollywood; and Joseph Suskind, an insurance adjuster, 39, of Sunny Isles Beach.
The Fensterszaubs are brothers and are related to Horowitz, Silverstein and Suskind through marriages, according to a civil complaint filed in a parallel Securities and Exchange Commission case.
Horowitz’s lawyer, David Weinstein, and Suskind’s attorney, Andrew Levi, declined to comment. The other five defendants’ lawyers were not listed in the court record.
All seven defendants were granted bonds at their first appearances in federal court in Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday and will face arraignments in Boston.
Besides Nourafchan and Yadgarov, the other non-South Florida defendants charged in the scheme are: Pedram Fejal, 39, of Brooklyn, New York; Ilya Gavrilov, 56, of Russia; God Izraelov, 46, of Israel; David Makary, 35, of Covina, California; Nowel Milik, 52, of Brea, California; David Moradi, 35, of Brooklyn, New York; Lorenzo Nourafchan, 38, of Los Angeles; David Ostrov, 49, of Clifton, New Jersey; Nicholas Rudela, 30, of Covina, California; Yechiel Salzberg, 51, of Far Rockaway, New York; Abe Shilian, 35, of Brooklyn, New York; and Stjepan Vinski, 30, of Glendora, California.
The defendants each face multiple federal charges, including securities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud and money-laundering conspiracy. The charges carry up to decades in prison.
